“And the winner is…..Strada Care!”
Organised by the Surrey Care Association, the Surrey Care Awards has established itself as one of the greatest highlights of the social care calendar in the county, well attended by many providers celebrating the very best work in social care from residential and nursing to domicilary, supported living and day service providers. A spectacular night returning to the stunning venue Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, Surrey on Friday 8th November. An evening packed with glamour, fun, celebrity by way of the brilliant Judi Love, dinner and a fabulous live band. The ‘bright and bold’ theme lead to some great outfits from guests on the day!
The Surrey Care Association explain : ‘The 2024 Surrey Care Awards recognises Surrey’s Adult Social Care heroes and celebrates what is truly wonderful in Surrey’s social care sector. And this is what these Awards mark. The incredible impact you, and only you, have made. Judi hosts a wonderful evening.’ Crucially the judging panel consisted of an experienced group of professionals spanning the local sector including an established and respected local care agency, Surrey County Council commissioning team, Surrey Heartlands ICB, Skills for Care and the Surrey Care Association. Submissions were made back in July and Strada Care was informed that they had made the finals in two categories!
We had our wonderful Deborah Bartley reaching the finals for Unsung Hero – for her outstanding work at our Sutton Supported Living service, and amazingly Strada Care was up for Supported Living Provider / Day & Community Service Provider of the Year 2024!
In addition to this, we were also informed that the Care Talent Collective, of which Strada Care is a proud and active member amongst 7 leading providers in Surrey, reached the finals for Excellence in Workforce Innovation.
And to top if all of, the Care Talent Collective went on to win Excellence in Workforce Innovation! We would like to congratulate all those within the collective who have worked so hard on this innovative programme, and a special thank you to the team at Active Prospects including Jessica Wood, Maria Mills, Joel Hartfield and Vicky Marshall for leading with grant bid and the project as a whole. This is a fantastic example of how collaboration in social care can really make a difference.
Our key highlights for the nomination
Initiated new Gut Health and Nutrition project, exploring benefit beyond obesity, and into causational approach to improving symptoms such as pain, behaviour and reducing medication.
Community work notably with rescuing housing following local care service closures – mobilising a response
to takeover a service and allow 4 people to stay in the home and with existing group.
Collaborations with East Surrey College and John Ruskin college, with JobCentrePlus, hiring 3 recruits from Sector-Based Work Academy Programme (SWAP). Also award winning work with the Care Talent Collective in bringing new talent into social care in Surrey. We also worked with East Surrey College to re-launch our Gardening Courses at Weavers, paving the way for more courses and hopefully onto social enterprise projects.
Strada Care was announced as the winner of Supported Living Provider / Day & Community Service Provider of the Year 2024!
And back to our Strada Care team, I would like to thank every single member of the Strada Care team across our 7 services, our senior leadership team lead by Chris Knight for not just the care, hard work and dedication that they invest into their work for our people, but for grasping the opportunities for creative thought, innovation and problem-solving in a social care sector facing more challenges than ever. This is what gives outstanding providers the edge, as well as the mindset of collaboration and partnership, bringing the best minds together for success.
A final thank you must go to the Surrey Care Association for their ongoing support and a spectacular event. As a founder member of the association, we can depend on this great association, respected across the nation in social care, to represent and support us day to day. Special thanks to Nicola McLeish and her great team: Charlotte, Rebecca, Freddie, Debbie and Ginny. The awards are a brilliant snapshot of the dedication, professionalism and experience the association provide their members throughout the year.
